This fall is a season of celebrations and new beginnings as the Museum of Fine Arts opens its new contemporary art wing, the Institute of Contemporary Art turns 75, the Addison Gallery reopens after fixing its roof, and Brandeis's Rose Art Museum reopens after a mini renovation and settling a lawsuit by backing off from its threat to close for good. And the galleries are filled with light shows, monster rock and roll, death, and naked ladies.

In the year 79, Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman city of Pompeii under lava and ash. Civilizations collapsed and memories faded and the city was lost until the mid-18th century. This traveling exhibit offers actual frescoes, jewelry, statues, coins, frying pans, and oil lamps. Most haunting are casts of bodies — a pair of young women, families, a dog — frozen in place as the terror, and the lava, overcame them.

States of the art In New England, where you can't swing a sack of cranberries without hitting a venerable cultural institution, anyone with access to a car (or even a subway pass) can scope out these topnotch art museums.

States of the art In New England, where you can't swing a sack of cranberries without hitting a venerable cultural institution, anyone with access to a car (or even a subway pass) can scope out these topnotch art museums.

Modern times Does Jen Mergel's appointment mean that the MFA is getting serious about contemporary art?

Art in the air conditioning From Picasso to William "Shrek" Steig's cartoons, and surfer photos to a Twilight Zone toy store, New England offers art worth traveling to this summer. Here we round up the best in the region, no matter the weather or your artistic inclinations.